Our last day of camp was full- everyone came, even more than had signed up, and there was plenty to do. The children had so many projects they wanted to finish- from an Indian princess headband embroidered with a feather, a purse with a dolphin rolling in blue waves, several new dolls, two new quivers, new arrows, several needle felted pictures, cookies, a tea party, a bonnet, new bows, target practice, a beaded necklace, shoes for a doll and a green gnome.
We began the day outside, loading a quarter cord of wood for the hungry wood stove on this windy cold day. That was done so quickly with four people helping to load and stack. As Nicoya, Silas and Sofia came we grabbed our hammers to help Doug cut cedar boards and pound nails on the sheep barn. The sheep needed hay and water so feed hay was loaded up in the hay rack. We worked for a couple of hours in the cold winds and then needed to warm up. The first mid morning fire was made in a fire bowl in the house of peace made of reeds down in the garden. We heated up some apple cider and ate a heavy load of nutella, lemon curd, peanut butter and fruit on rye crisp bread and rice bread.
After snack we headed up the the forest camp to make a cooking fire and practice with the new arrows Doug was making for everyone. The lunch fire was hot enough to bake potatoes, boil potatoes, cook sausages, bacon and polenta in the embers. It was very windy and gusty and every moment the fire was cooking required alertness and attention from the grown-ups. A few of the campers needed many reminders to not play with the cooking fire for safety reasons.
The afternoon play included fairy houses, target practice in the woods and sewing projects in the log cabin once fingers were too cold to work outside. It was fun to come inside to the glowing wood stove and bake, make new dolls and quivers with leather straps. The felt pictures and bonnets were done very quickly, and it was fun to see how easy it is to transform the wool of the sheep to a carded, felted picture or garment.
The closing of camp brought many gifts- bread and fruit shared, bows and arrows went home, cookies and headbands. This unique crew of children showed care and kindness towards each other all week as they lived in their imaginative worlds of play and freedom in the woods and log cabin farm camp .
We began the day outside, loading a quarter cord of wood for the hungry wood stove on this windy cold day. That was done so quickly with four people helping to load and stack. As Nicoya, Silas and Sofia came we grabbed our hammers to help Doug cut cedar boards and pound nails on the sheep barn. The sheep needed hay and water so feed hay was loaded up in the hay rack. We worked for a couple of hours in the cold winds and then needed to warm up. The first mid morning fire was made in a fire bowl in the house of peace made of reeds down in the garden. We heated up some apple cider and ate a heavy load of nutella, lemon curd, peanut butter and fruit on rye crisp bread and rice bread.
After snack we headed up the the forest camp to make a cooking fire and practice with the new arrows Doug was making for everyone. The lunch fire was hot enough to bake potatoes, boil potatoes, cook sausages, bacon and polenta in the embers. It was very windy and gusty and every moment the fire was cooking required alertness and attention from the grown-ups. A few of the campers needed many reminders to not play with the cooking fire for safety reasons.
The afternoon play included fairy houses, target practice in the woods and sewing projects in the log cabin once fingers were too cold to work outside. It was fun to come inside to the glowing wood stove and bake, make new dolls and quivers with leather straps. The felt pictures and bonnets were done very quickly, and it was fun to see how easy it is to transform the wool of the sheep to a carded, felted picture or garment.
The closing of camp brought many gifts- bread and fruit shared, bows and arrows went home, cookies and headbands. This unique crew of children showed care and kindness towards each other all week as they lived in their imaginative worlds of play and freedom in the woods and log cabin farm camp .
The animals, trees, wind, snow and fire are our teachers and with them we learn how to be at peace with ourselves and with each other.
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